The S&P 500 (SP500) on Friday advanced 1.37% for the week to end at 5,026.61 points, posting gains in four out of five sessions. Its accompanying SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) added 1.39% for the week.
The index notched its fifth straight weekly gain, and in doing so achieved several new historic milestones. The S&P on Thursday briefly crossed the 5,000 points mark for the first time ever, and then on Friday closed above that level, again for the first time ever.
Some interesting statistics to consider: it took Wall Street’s benchmark index 719 trading days, or nearly three years, to close above 5,000 points from 4,000 points. The gauge had cleared the former mark back on April 1, 2021. This was also the longest stretch between 1,000-point milestones for the S&P 500 (SP500) since the 1,227 trading days, or nearly five years, it took between its 2,000 and 3,000 points levels. That period was from August 2014 to July 2019.
The index’s march to 5,000 this week was driven once again by technology stocks, along with a largely positive earnings season. The S&P 500 Technology sector gained about 3% for the week, adding onto a more than 10% gain so far this year. Most of its advance was driven by chip stocks and the “Magnificent 7” club. Meanwhile, the average number of S&P 500 companies beating earnings estimates this quarter is trending slightly higher than the last four, helping drive sentiment.
Not all is entirely rosy on Wall Street however. This week, especially with the big advance in the “Magnificent 7” club, concerns over stretched valuations and weightage have abounded, though those worries have been soothed somewhat by small-cap stocks making up some ground on their larger peers.
“An excellent day of further follow-through by U.S. equities and particularly by small-caps which have played catchup quite a bit this week with multiple days of outperformance. Note, while SPX might seem stretched to some, the equal weighted SPX (RSP) is just exceeding its base from December which gives some conviction of even more follow-through,” Mark Newton, managing director and global head of technical strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said on X (formerly Twitter).
“In the current bull market, have the MegaCap-8 been hoarding all the gains, leaving crumbs for the rest of the S&P 500 (SP500)? Think again. While these giants have indeed soared, they’ve not starved the broader market. Since Oct 12, 2022, the S&P 500 (SP500) has leapt by 39.6%,” Yardeni Research said.
“Beyond the behemoths, sectors like Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Financials, and Materials have seen substantial gains, ranging from 21% to 37%. It’s a broad bull market, with only a few sectors lagging. The narrative? Success isn’t limited to the top-tier stocks,” Yardeni added.
Other concerns weighing on investors this week was the Federal Reserve. Last Sunday, Fed chair Jerome Powell in an interview reiterated the central bank’s signal from its meeting last week that policymakers would probably not cut rates in March. Later in the week, Fed speakers including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari stuck to that messaging.
Economic data was a mixed bag this week, with the reports pointing to favorable inflation trends but an economy that might be slightly stronger than the Fed wants. On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of U.S. services activity for January rose to a four-month high. The labor market continued to show resilience in the wake of last Friday’s significantly hotter-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report, with initial jobless claims on Thursday coming in lower than expected.
Looking at the earnings season, the most notable name that reported this week was Walt Disney (DIS). The theme park and movie giant and Dow 30 component delivered a quarterly earnings report that saw the legacy company top expectations driven by cost cuts, and promise further capital returns through a bigger dividend and the restart of stock buybacks.
Other major companies that reported results included industrial conglomerate Caterpillar (CAT), the world’s largest fast-food chain McDonald’s (MCD), the biggest publicly listed pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly (LLY), drugmaker Amgen (AMGN), automaker Ford (F), Snapchat-parent Snap (SNAP), Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA), ride-hailing company Uber (UBER), chip designer Arm (ARM) and snacks and beverage behemoth PepsiCo (PEP).
Turning to the weekly performance of the S&P 500 (SP500) sectors, eight ended in the green, with Technology topping the gainers. Utilities, Consumer Staples and Energy were the three losers. See below a breakdown of the performance of the sectors as well as their accompanying SPDR Select Sector ETFs from February 2 close to February 9 close:
#1: Information Technology +3.21%, and the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) +2.77%.
#2: Consumer Discretionary +1.45%, and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) +1.45%.
#3: Health Care +1.43%, and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) +1.43%.
#4: Industrials +1.17%, and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) +1.19%.
#5: Communication Services +1.02%, and the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) -0.71%.
#6: Real Estate +0.38%, and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) +0.26%.
#7: Financials +0.18%, and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) +0.26%.
#8: Materials +0.02%, and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) +0.06%.
#9: Energy -0.24%, and the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) +0.87%.
#10: Consumer Staples -1.33%, and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) -1.43%.
#11: Utilities -2.08%, and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU) -1.98%.
For investors looking into the future of what’s happening, take a look at the Seeking Alpha Catalyst Watch to see next week’s breakdown of actionable events that stand out.
More on the markets
#500s #weekly #advance #powers #points #historic #NYSEARCASPY
